Barbara Kahn

Barbara Kahn

BARBARA KAHN is a playwright, director, actor, acting and playwriting coach. She has performed in the U.S. and Europe. Her plays have been produced in the U.S., France and Germany. Theater for the New City has been the primary New York City home for Barbara’s plays since 1994. Barbara has directed in New York, Paris, and at the National Theatre in London. Among many awards, she was honored with the Torch of...
BARBARA KAHN is a playwright, director, actor, acting and playwriting coach. She has performed in the U.S. and Europe. Her plays have been produced in the U.S., France and Germany. Theater for the New City has been the primary New York City home for Barbara’s plays since 1994. Barbara has directed in New York, Paris, and at the National Theatre in London. Among many awards, she was honored with the Torch of Hope Award for achievement in non-profit theatre, following past recipients Terrence McNally, John Guare, August Wilson, Horton Foote and A.R. Gurney; the joint Robert Chesley Playwriting Award/Wurlitzer Foundation Residency in Taos, NM; the James R. Quirk Award for the Performing Arts; a 2017 Acker Award for her work in downtown theater; and the 2019 Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award. With Jackie S. Freeman, she co-authored the lyrics to “Actions are the Music of the Free,” music by Jennifer Giering, performed at the United Nations Tribute to Dame Nita Barrow. Barbara was named one of 2015’s “100 Women we Love” by GO! Magazine. Recent awards: The Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award, the Nancy Dean Lesbian Playwright Award. Member: The Actors Fund Performing Arts Legacy Project, Honor Roll! SAG/AFTRA, The Dramatists Guild. Portrait by Seth Ruggles Hiler.

Plays

  • Cyma's Story
    Set in Shoshone, Wyoming in September 1939, on the beginning of war in Europe. Cyma is a Russian Jewish immigrant living with her partner Rachel in Shoshone. She write weekly to her family in Russia, hoping for an answer that has not come in many years. News of war triggers memories of her childhood, both good and bad, and the scandal that forced her to leave her family and homeland so many years before.
  • CO-OP
    Place: A sidewalk in front of a recently renovated apartment building on the Lower East Side, New York City.
    Time: The present.
    Martha, evicted from her home of 28 years by developers who converted the building into co-op apartments, is homeless. She returns every day to the building trying to sell enough of her belongings to passersby to get along for the day. Although angry at being so easily...
    Place: A sidewalk in front of a recently renovated apartment building on the Lower East Side, New York City.
    Time: The present.
    Martha, evicted from her home of 28 years by developers who converted the building into co-op apartments, is homeless. She returns every day to the building trying to sell enough of her belongings to passersby to get along for the day. Although angry at being so easily "discarded," she faces her life on the street with humor, optimism and a will to survive.
  • The Forgotten Truths
    Written by Barbara Kahn and Colleen Curtis.
    On May 2, 1832, George Sand's novel, Indiana, went to the printer. Publication brought her acclaim and notoriety in the literary world of Paris. At age 28, she had to learn quickly to come to terms with her past as Aurore Dudevant, provincial lady, and how to face her future as a public figure without sacrificing her artistic integrity.
    The play is...
    Written by Barbara Kahn and Colleen Curtis.
    On May 2, 1832, George Sand's novel, Indiana, went to the printer. Publication brought her acclaim and notoriety in the literary world of Paris. At age 28, she had to learn quickly to come to terms with her past as Aurore Dudevant, provincial lady, and how to face her future as a public figure without sacrificing her artistic integrity.
    The play is an intimate portrait of the artist at the time of her first success. Ahead of her would be the famous relationships with DeMusset, Chopin and others, and a prolific career. The puppets in the play, representing people in George's past and present, were inspired by her own theatre at her country estate (Nohant), for which she created the puppets.

    This is a one-act, structured play with a beginning, middle and end. Running time is approximately seventy minutes. It is essential to the continuity of the play that there be no intermission.
  • Where Do All the Ghosts Go?
    Where Do All the Ghosts Go? is a dark comedy about the effects of the demolition of a historic NYC building on the ghosts of significant people that have made it their post-life home. The play brings together five ghosts who faced adversity in life. Sarah Bernhardt, baptized Catholic, faced anti-Semitism in the 19th century for publicly acknowledging her Jewish heritage; Elizabeth Keckley, former slave and...
    Where Do All the Ghosts Go? is a dark comedy about the effects of the demolition of a historic NYC building on the ghosts of significant people that have made it their post-life home. The play brings together five ghosts who faced adversity in life. Sarah Bernhardt, baptized Catholic, faced anti-Semitism in the 19th century for publicly acknowledging her Jewish heritage; Elizabeth Keckley, former slave and companion of Mary Todd Lincoln, encountered racism and segregation during travels with the widow; Buffalo Bill, Indian fighter in his youth, employed American Indians in his wild west shows and mourned the death of his great friend Chief Sitting Bull; Marcel Duchamp created a controversial genre of visual art using found objects; Alice Lansen, accused thief, was a self-proclaimed baroness.

    Together, these ghosts who face homelessness must convince a young living lesbian couple that ghosts really exist in order to get help in finding a new eternal home.
  • Verzet Amsterdam [Resistance Amsterdam]
    Verzet Amsterdam dramatizes the true story of the valiant Dutch artists in World War II occupied Amsterdam who banded together to resist fascism and protect Jews from deportation and death. They came from differing artistic careers, races, religions and sexual identities. When their first efforts faced exposure, they decided on a more drastic and decisive action. Cellist Frieda Belinfante, poet Willi Arondeus,...
    Verzet Amsterdam dramatizes the true story of the valiant Dutch artists in World War II occupied Amsterdam who banded together to resist fascism and protect Jews from deportation and death. They came from differing artistic careers, races, religions and sexual identities. When their first efforts faced exposure, they decided on a more drastic and decisive action. Cellist Frieda Belinfante, poet Willi Arondeus, composer Jan Van Gilse, sculptor Gerrit Van Der Veen, museum curator Willem Sandberg and Surinamese Dutch activist Anton de Kom risked their lives to save their Jewish neighbors.
  • Pyrates! The CourtShip Chronicles
    Book & lyrics by Barbara Kahn. Music by Jay Kerr.
    Pyrates! The CourtShip Chronicles is based on the exploits of real-life pirates Anne Bonny, Mary Read and Calico Jack Rackham in 1720 Jamaica. This tale of love, lust and revenge among non-traditional people is told in the traditional American musical art form. Pyrates! captures the diversity of the population of Jamaica, including an escaped slave (...
    Book & lyrics by Barbara Kahn. Music by Jay Kerr.
    Pyrates! The CourtShip Chronicles is based on the exploits of real-life pirates Anne Bonny, Mary Read and Calico Jack Rackham in 1720 Jamaica. This tale of love, lust and revenge among non-traditional people is told in the traditional American musical art form. Pyrates! captures the diversity of the population of Jamaica, including an escaped slave (Maroon), a Sephardic Jew, a multi-racial tavern owner, a colonial bureaucrat and a gay male shopkeeper.
  • Women of the Wind
    Women of the Wind explores the lives of two secondary cast members of the movie Gone with the Wind and the fading star hired to coach some of the screen tests. African-American Butterfly McQueen, Prissy in Gone with the Wind, appeared in the production of Barbara Kahn’s first play Gravediggers (co-authored with Ray Hagen and presented by Ellen Stewart at LaMaMa E.T.C.). Prissy defined her career, obscuring her...
    Women of the Wind explores the lives of two secondary cast members of the movie Gone with the Wind and the fading star hired to coach some of the screen tests. African-American Butterfly McQueen, Prissy in Gone with the Wind, appeared in the production of Barbara Kahn’s first play Gravediggers (co-authored with Ray Hagen and presented by Ellen Stewart at LaMaMa E.T.C.). Prissy defined her career, obscuring her years as a dancer and Broadway actor. Ona Munson, brothel owner Belle Watling in Gone with the Wind, had three career-protecting heterosexual marriages that she hoped would deflect attention from her intimate relationships with other women. Alla Nazimova, born in Crimea, studied with Stanislavski until it was discovered that she was Jewish. (Jews were banned in the Moscow Art Theatre.) Emigrating to the U.S., she introduced Ibsen to American audiences and had great success as actor and director. She was eventually sidelined from major roles and saw both her fame and income suffer. Women of the Wind will (re)discover the lives of these women and reveal the racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia that defined both their professional and private lives.
  • Crossing Paths in Washington Square
    Crossing Paths in Washington Square captures Greenwich Village as it was in 1913--racially, economically and culturally diverse.
    Characters in the play represent the wealthy “patricians” of the Washington Square North townhouses; the Italian working class residents of Washington Square West; the artists and writers of the Washington Square South studios and rooming houses; the gays and lesbians beginning...
    Crossing Paths in Washington Square captures Greenwich Village as it was in 1913--racially, economically and culturally diverse.
    Characters in the play represent the wealthy “patricians” of the Washington Square North townhouses; the Italian working class residents of Washington Square West; the artists and writers of the Washington Square South studios and rooming houses; the gays and lesbians beginning to build a community in Greenwich Village; the Jewish immigrants to the east of Washington Square who were still affected by the Triangle Factory fire of 1911, that happened nearby and killed so many of their relatives and neighbors; and the remnants of the African American community, most of whom had already relocated uptown to Harlem. Washington Square Park was where the disparate Village residents and visitors converged, sharing the greenery and fountain, especially during long hot summers.
  • Ghost Light Now & Then
    A ghost light is a single light left on onstage when a theater is otherwise dark. There is a superstition that every theater has ghosts and that ghost lights provide illumination for the ghosts to perform onstage. Ghost Light Now & Then is a “time-fluid” play that is both historic and contemporary. A lesbian couple, whose marriage is threatened by family interference, is thrown into 1920’s Greenwich Village...
    A ghost light is a single light left on onstage when a theater is otherwise dark. There is a superstition that every theater has ghosts and that ghost lights provide illumination for the ghosts to perform onstage. Ghost Light Now & Then is a “time-fluid” play that is both historic and contemporary. A lesbian couple, whose marriage is threatened by family interference, is thrown into 1920’s Greenwich Village, where they learn life lessons about prejudice, trust and love while seeking their way back home. During an inexplicable seismic event in 2017, New Yorkers Becky and Mandy are flung through a window into the early twentieth century Greenwich Village Theater. Inspired by “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Wizard of Oz,” the play follows their journey home. They wander through remnants of scenery, encountering ghosts from productions that haunt the site of the theater that was demolished in 1930. Characters and snatches of dialogue from these productions of the past are woven into this contemporary play. The women discover that issues and conflicts confronting their world -- ”homophobia, racism and anti-Semitism--haven’t changed in a century, and take the lessons they learn back to the present.
  • The Three-Mile Limit
    The Three-Mile Limit dramatizes a voyage aboard a transatlantic ocean liner in 1927. Real-life and fictional characters reflect the diversity of the passengers and crew. Conflicts resulting from class and ethnic differences, race relations and sexual identity come to life in the play. Alla Nazimova, famous star of stage and film; Florence Mills, African-American singer, dancer and actress returning from a...
    The Three-Mile Limit dramatizes a voyage aboard a transatlantic ocean liner in 1927. Real-life and fictional characters reflect the diversity of the passengers and crew. Conflicts resulting from class and ethnic differences, race relations and sexual identity come to life in the play. Alla Nazimova, famous star of stage and film; Florence Mills, African-American singer, dancer and actress returning from a triumphant European tour; Beniamino Gigli, popular Italian tenor looking forward to playing New York’s Carnegie Hall; a young woman from Russia wondering if her husband from an arranged marriage who had emigrated five years earlier will meet her on arrival; an American crew member who has been living a lie; and a wealthy Southerner traveling with his mistress who still hopes for marriage and respectability. With memories of Walter Winchell, Louella Parsons and Dolly Wilde. The interaction of these characters reveals the conflicts and prejudices of the time and place.
  • Long Time Passing
    “I have no enemy but war itself”

    “Cities destroyed, families broken apart
    Books were burned, and works of Art.
    People were killed for their faith and belief,
    The world slept under a blanket of grief.” *
    *From a poem written by my father while stationed abroad during wartime.

    The play is a fable set in the ruins of Central Park during an endless war....
    “I have no enemy but war itself”

    “Cities destroyed, families broken apart
    Books were burned, and works of Art.
    People were killed for their faith and belief,
    The world slept under a blanket of grief.” *
    *From a poem written by my father while stationed abroad during wartime.

    The play is a fable set in the ruins of Central Park during an endless war. There are no “sides” in the play and no politics, only the story of war’s devastation on all living things, both human and animal. And in keeping with the human (and animal) spirit, the play contains endless hope in this endless war.

    Music for the two songs composed by Alicia Svigals.
  • 1918: A House Divided
    Book & Lyrics by Barbara Kahn. Music by Allison Tartalia.

    1918: A House Divided is a musical drama about generational conflicts within a Jewish immigrant family in 1918 New York City. It takes place in Greenwich Village and Brooklyn, and is set against the background of the Great War, a conflict that divided the city, the country and the world. Using newly-created replicas of silent movies...
    Book & Lyrics by Barbara Kahn. Music by Allison Tartalia.

    1918: A House Divided is a musical drama about generational conflicts within a Jewish immigrant family in 1918 New York City. It takes place in Greenwich Village and Brooklyn, and is set against the background of the Great War, a conflict that divided the city, the country and the world. Using newly-created replicas of silent movies and music in the style of the various genres popular at the time, such as ragtime, jazz and vaudeville, 1918: A House Divided expresses the anguish of displacement, no matter in what century it occurs, and the familial love that overcomes the generational divide.

    A hotly debated war led to a resistance movement and legislation that branded dissenters as unpatriotic, subjecting them to fines and imprisonment, and for non-citizens, deportation. Anti-foreign sentiments led to legislation curtailing immigration. The conservative mood nationwide was in contrast to the mood among many New Yorkers in 1918, particularly those involved in the worlds of music and art. The play is set in that politically turbulent year that also saw a flowering of new ideas in music, art and literature. Then, as now, New York City, particularly Greenwich Village, represented the heart of these changes at the beginning of a new century.
  • The Ballad of Baxter Street
    Book and lyrics by Barbara Kahn. Music by Nicola Barber.
    THE BALLAD OF BAXTER STREET recreates the notorious Five Points neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in 1855, steeped in diversity and full of the same prejudices that exist in today’s volatile climate -- the place where “slumming” was invented. Street vendors sell everything from sand (yes, sand!) to hot corn to hand-sewn shirts; an Irishman and free-...
    Book and lyrics by Barbara Kahn. Music by Nicola Barber.
    THE BALLAD OF BAXTER STREET recreates the notorious Five Points neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in 1855, steeped in diversity and full of the same prejudices that exist in today’s volatile climate -- the place where “slumming” was invented. Street vendors sell everything from sand (yes, sand!) to hot corn to hand-sewn shirts; an Irishman and free-born African-American woman cross a social and racial divide to marry; an orphan who was tricked into marriage to a much older widowed policeman falls in love with her husband’s daughter; the real life famous French actress Rachel Felix helps the two women while on her New York tour; and the incredibly rich theatrical life on Broadway (below 14th St.), includes magicians, musicians and melodramas.
  • War Bonds
    Place: Lincoln Army Air Force Base (Women's barracks and canteen) in Act One; Bar and room in a rooming house in Frankfurt, Germany in Act Two. Time: 1943 (Act One) and 1947 (Act Two).

    War Bonds explores the neglected story of women pilots and women in the army in World War II. Inspired by interviews with veterans and other research, the play evokes the spirit of the daring women who braved...
    Place: Lincoln Army Air Force Base (Women's barracks and canteen) in Act One; Bar and room in a rooming house in Frankfurt, Germany in Act Two. Time: 1943 (Act One) and 1947 (Act Two).

    War Bonds explores the neglected story of women pilots and women in the army in World War II. Inspired by interviews with veterans and other research, the play evokes the spirit of the daring women who braved the prevailing attitudes of the day in order to contribute to the war effort on their own terms. Two pilots fall in love; childhood friends find their friendship strained by institutionalized homophobia in the military. No World War II story would be complete without the requisite canteen. War Bonds has its own canteen and canteen singer, who performs seven "original" World War II songs, with music by Jay Kerr and lyrics by Barbara Kahn. "When the World is Free Again," "My Silver Wings and I" and the other songs typify the music of wartime US-from torch to swing to anthem.
  • Walking from Rumania
    Walking from Rumania, set in 1899, was inspired by the women-only groups of “fusgeyers” (pedestrians) who walked across Rumania to escape hardship and discrimination against Jews. Five women in a small village prepare to join a larger group that is leaving a nearby city in three months. Two of the women are drawn to each other and plan to stay together in America. A pogrom (rampage against Jews) brings tragedy...
    Walking from Rumania, set in 1899, was inspired by the women-only groups of “fusgeyers” (pedestrians) who walked across Rumania to escape hardship and discrimination against Jews. Five women in a small village prepare to join a larger group that is leaving a nearby city in three months. Two of the women are drawn to each other and plan to stay together in America. A pogrom (rampage against Jews) brings tragedy and provides greater impetus for the women to risk the journey. Two Gypsies function throughout the play as a “Greek chorus,” with folk tales and music that comment on the action. Music by Allison Tartalia. Walking from Rumania concludes on a hopeful note, with the fusgeyers on the verge of beginning their daring escape.
  • Birds On Fire
    Birds on Fire tells what might have been the lives of the four unknown victims of the Triangle Factory Fire. Two women, childhood friends from Eastern Europe in America for five years, have dreams of a better life beyond the factory. They help a recent arrival from Eastern Europe who tries hard to adjust to her new and difficult life in America. The young Italian seaman who helped her on the dock jumps ship to...
    Birds on Fire tells what might have been the lives of the four unknown victims of the Triangle Factory Fire. Two women, childhood friends from Eastern Europe in America for five years, have dreams of a better life beyond the factory. They help a recent arrival from Eastern Europe who tries hard to adjust to her new and difficult life in America. The young Italian seaman who helped her on the dock jumps ship to find this woman he loved “at first sight.” The lives of these four converge in the Triangle Factory. They work hard, play hard during their precious hours of relaxation and share their hopes, dreams and love. The tragic fire that is the climax of the play steals from them their future as well as their past. Music by Allison Tartalia, lyrics by Barbara Kahn.
  • Island Girls
    Women in 1927 New York City were incarcerated in the Women’s Penitentiary on Welfare Island--a workhouse and prison. A short ferry ride from the hustle and bustle of mid-town Manhattan, on what is now Roosevelt Island, the prison became a revolving door for many women from varying ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds who found themselves on the wrong side of the law. A newly-graduated social worker comes...
    Women in 1927 New York City were incarcerated in the Women’s Penitentiary on Welfare Island--a workhouse and prison. A short ferry ride from the hustle and bustle of mid-town Manhattan, on what is now Roosevelt Island, the prison became a revolving door for many women from varying ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds who found themselves on the wrong side of the law. A newly-graduated social worker comes face to face with her own biases grounded in her white, upper class background while she gets to know the prisoners. Carefully researched, Island Girls brings to life examples of the unknown or forgotten stories of thousands of women of New York City nearly a century ago. Music by Noelle LuSane, lyrics by Barbara Kahn & Noelle LuSane.
  • Unreachable Eden
    Music composed by Arthur Abrams. Book & Lyrics by Barbara Kahn.
    Polish Jewish lesbian Eve Adams (born Chava Zloczower) ran a tearoom on Macdougal Street in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1926, which catered to artists, writers and actors, both male and female. She was deported from the U.S. as an “undesirable alien” and spent the 1930’s in Paris, selling banned books to English-speaking tourists....
    Music composed by Arthur Abrams. Book & Lyrics by Barbara Kahn.
    Polish Jewish lesbian Eve Adams (born Chava Zloczower) ran a tearoom on Macdougal Street in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1926, which catered to artists, writers and actors, both male and female. She was deported from the U.S. as an “undesirable alien” and spent the 1930’s in Paris, selling banned books to English-speaking tourists. Eve and her friends Henry and June Miller and Anais Nin enjoyed both café and nightlife in France, while in Germany the Nazi government was banning and burning books and implementing its war against Jews, homosexuals and others deemed “undesirable.” These parallel worlds collided during World War II, once again putting Eve in triple jeopardy as a Jew, a lesbian and an immigrant. Composer Arthur Abrams has written an original score that reflects the rich musical influences of 1930’s Europe, including the popular tango, the waltz and ethnic melodies.

    Unreachable Eden is a stand-alone sequel to The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams and is based on Eve Adams’ deportation file from the U.S. government as well as correspondence and photographs courtesy of her relatives.
  • The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams
    The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams is inspired by the true story of an extraordinary woman who was a victim of homophobia and anti-immigrant hysteria that ultimately led to her death. In 1926 Eve Adams, a Jewish lesbian from Poland, was proprietor of “Eve’s Hangout”, a tearoom at 129 Macdougal Street, where local poets, musicians and actors congregated and shared their work in salon evenings. Eve’s haven of...
    The Spring and Fall of Eve Adams is inspired by the true story of an extraordinary woman who was a victim of homophobia and anti-immigrant hysteria that ultimately led to her death. In 1926 Eve Adams, a Jewish lesbian from Poland, was proprietor of “Eve’s Hangout”, a tearoom at 129 Macdougal Street, where local poets, musicians and actors congregated and shared their work in salon evenings. Eve’s haven of artistic and sexual freedom was soon threatened by religious and governmental authorities, leading to her arrest, imprisonment and deportation. The conflict between progressive and reactionary forces provides the drama in the play as the characters attempt to live and love free from discrimination.
  • The Lady Was a Gentleman
    St. Louis, MO. 1858. Charlotte Cushman’s opening night as Romeo, one of her most famous male roles, leads to a case of the jitters, and encounters with an amorous young female fan and a frontierwoman and her mail-order bride. Charlotte’s hectic life on and offstage is held together by her trusted assistant Sallie Mercer, a free and educated black woman during the time of slavery in the U.S. Based on the life of...
    St. Louis, MO. 1858. Charlotte Cushman’s opening night as Romeo, one of her most famous male roles, leads to a case of the jitters, and encounters with an amorous young female fan and a frontierwoman and her mail-order bride. Charlotte’s hectic life on and offstage is held together by her trusted assistant Sallie Mercer, a free and educated black woman during the time of slavery in the U.S. Based on the life of the most famous actress in the English-speaking theatre in the 19th century, who lived her life loving other women, including sculptor Emma Stebbins, designer of Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain.
  • Crossings, Where W. 11th Meets W.4th St., Greenwich Village
    Two "New York" stories interweave in a series of seven vignettes about women meeting women, old friends, new love and true romance. All are about the comedy of errors that result when people make incorrect assumptions about each other.
  • Joanna
    Set in 1900 Lower East Side. New York City. Joanna escapes an arranged marriage mid-ceremony, climbs up on the ceiling, and refuses to come down or speak to anyone, despite the pleading of her sister and her now-married and very pregnant former lesbian lover. Her parents leave town in shame, the other tenants move out in fear of Joanna's "evil demon," and the landlord boards up the building,...
    Set in 1900 Lower East Side. New York City. Joanna escapes an arranged marriage mid-ceremony, climbs up on the ceiling, and refuses to come down or speak to anyone, despite the pleading of her sister and her now-married and very pregnant former lesbian lover. Her parents leave town in shame, the other tenants move out in fear of Joanna's "evil demon," and the landlord boards up the building, leaving Joanna alone with her sister. As one day passes inside, a century goes by outside, occasionally bringing intruders from the future. They include an aspiring silent film actress afraid of catching the flu, a depression-era hobo, two anti-Vietnam-war street mimes, and a contemporary real estate agent who wants her share of the neighborhood gentrification. Inspired by Cris Williamson's song "(Get down from the ceiling), Joanna."
  • Seating and Other Arrangements
    Solves the problem: what to do when your lover comes back, finds that you have a new lover and discovers that the new lover is "awfully sweet." Into the mix, to help sort things out, comes an old friend, a very good therapist who speaks the lingo.
  • Pen Pals
    "When democracy dies, there are no fences left to sit on."
    Pen Pals is dedicated to Phyllis Pautrat whose work with Amnesty International inspired the play and who is sometimes a role model for her older sister... In the play, three Americans and a Canadian try to navigate the politically turbulent 21st century, as the U.S. government turns from democracy to fundamentalist religious...
    "When democracy dies, there are no fences left to sit on."
    Pen Pals is dedicated to Phyllis Pautrat whose work with Amnesty International inspired the play and who is sometimes a role model for her older sister... In the play, three Americans and a Canadian try to navigate the politically turbulent 21st century, as the U.S. government turns from democracy to fundamentalist religious dictatorship. Adult actors play the friends as they go from childhood through young middle age-with conflicts, humor and love.
  • The Tempest-Tossed
    Set in Berlin, Germany, in 1946. The confusion, despair and hope in the aftermath of world war bring together five women. They are an American administrator who can't leave her wartime demons behind; a Jewish pre-war Russian immigrant to the US who returns to Europe seeking the family she left behind; a young German woman whose Aryan mother and stepfather had disowned her because of her mischling (mixed...
    Set in Berlin, Germany, in 1946. The confusion, despair and hope in the aftermath of world war bring together five women. They are an American administrator who can't leave her wartime demons behind; a Jewish pre-war Russian immigrant to the US who returns to Europe seeking the family she left behind; a young German woman whose Aryan mother and stepfather had disowned her because of her mischling (mixed Jewish) status; her lover, an escaped Russian prisoner she helped to hide during the war. All four women come into conflict with the German secretary, widow of a soldier who committed massacres for the SS, who struggles with her own past.
  • Heaven and Earth
    Heaven and Earth is set in the 1930's in Shoshone, Wyoming. Two Jewish women, both from Europe in this stand alone sequel to Whither Thou Goest, have made a home there for the past decade. Simi, a refugee, is haunted by the radio broadcasts of antisemitic priests that bring memories of her escape from danger. Rachel, an immigrant, is less affected. Simi decides to return to Europe to find the family she...
    Heaven and Earth is set in the 1930's in Shoshone, Wyoming. Two Jewish women, both from Europe in this stand alone sequel to Whither Thou Goest, have made a home there for the past decade. Simi, a refugee, is haunted by the radio broadcasts of antisemitic priests that bring memories of her escape from danger. Rachel, an immigrant, is less affected. Simi decides to return to Europe to find the family she left behind, leaving Rachel to fear for her safety. Their American friend Nora, a pilot, tries to help the pair as they navigate the years just before another world war erupts.
  • Whither Thou Goest
    Samantha Lasser (Simi), born Cyma Lozawick, is a young Russian Jewish immigrant who volunteers at a Home for Immigrant Girls in 1922, where she meets Charlotte, a wealthy Jewish socialite descended from early immigrants, who does "good works" for the Home. The initial conflicts of class and culture give way to stronger romantic feelings between them. Simi's friendship with Rachel, a newly-arrived...
    Samantha Lasser (Simi), born Cyma Lozawick, is a young Russian Jewish immigrant who volunteers at a Home for Immigrant Girls in 1922, where she meets Charlotte, a wealthy Jewish socialite descended from early immigrants, who does "good works" for the Home. The initial conflicts of class and culture give way to stronger romantic feelings between them. Simi's friendship with Rachel, a newly-arrived resident at the Home, helps her to deal with the ensuing scandal and crisis that force her to change her life. [stand alone sequel to Unorthodox Behavior].
  • Unorthodox Behavior
    The story of a young Jewish woman's confrontation with tradition in 1913 Russia. "A little bit of Yentl, a little bit of Antigone." MALKA SHAFRAN is "surrogate" mother to CYMA and LIBBY LOZAWICK, sisters whose mother died in childbirth. Following her father's death, Cyma attempts to say kaddish for him in the synagogue with the men--breaking 5000 years of tradition. After she is...
    The story of a young Jewish woman's confrontation with tradition in 1913 Russia. "A little bit of Yentl, a little bit of Antigone." MALKA SHAFRAN is "surrogate" mother to CYMA and LIBBY LOZAWICK, sisters whose mother died in childbirth. Following her father's death, Cyma attempts to say kaddish for him in the synagogue with the men--breaking 5000 years of tradition. After she is forcibly ejected, her second attempt to enter the synagogue results in tragedy.